Top executive quits troubled hospital trust

A top executive is quitting the troubled University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust.

Steven Vaughan, operations director, has resigned and will leave his post at the end of next week.

It follows a year in which the trust has faced a string of controversies, including criticism over the shambolic state of the records department at the Royal Lancaster Infirmay, a police and Care Quality Commission probe into the deaths of mothers and babies at the Furness General Hospital in Barrow and blunders which led to patients missing treatment because they were not called back for follow-up appointments.

The trust has confirmed Mr Vaughan’s departure in a statement but has not explained why he has resigned from the £100,000-a-year job.

In the statment, trust chief executive Tony Halsall said: “Steve has been a valuable asset to our trust for the past four years and we will all be sorry to see him go. He has played a role in implementing plans to assist with clearing our historical debt and achieving foundation trust status.

“During his time at the trust, he has been a committed and dedicated director and under his direction, we have seen improvements in important patient standards and targets, such as A and E waiting times and the time cancer patients wait to receive treatment following diagnosis.”

The statement also quoted Mr Vaughan as saying: “It has been a great four years working at the trust. I am very proud of all my teams and would like to thank them for their energy and commitment to continually working hard to improve performance, while ensuring that the needs of patients are at the front of their minds.”